VIDEO: See a crowded cafeteria celebrate surprise gifts for 6 Hamilton elementary students

At a school-wide assembly Thursday at Hamilton’s Fairwood Elementary, six students with perfect attendance for the school year were surprised with free bicycles.

The bikes were donated by a Fairfield Twp. Walmart and they were the most expensive perfect attendance gifts ever given to students in the Hamilton school system.

Fairwood sixth-grader Whitney Martinez was among the surprised winners.

“I thought I was going to get a paper that said congratulations,” she said.

Fairwood Principal Matthew Crapo spent his lunch time Wednesday assembling the six bikes.

The shiny, new wheels got all the attention but so did the important lesson of showing up for class, said Crapo.

“Attendance is such a big, big thing. What better way to recognize that than to give a kid a bicycle?” he said.

“Walmart at Bridgewater Falls was excellent and they helped me pick them (bikes) out and load them,” Crapo said.

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